Skip to main content

Fujiwara, Gebrselassie, Kawauchi, Mathathi Headline Fukuoka International Marathon Field

http://www.chunichi.co.jp/s/chuspo/article/2012110801001672.html
http://mainichi.jp/sports/news/20121109k0000m050013000c.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Nov. 8 the organizers of the Dec. 2 Fukuoka International Marathon announced the elite field for this year's Moscow World Championships selection race edition.  The domestic field of four consists of London Olympian Arata Fujiwara (Miki House) and 2011 Daegu World Championships team members Hiroyuki Horibata (Team Asahi Kasei), Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) and Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota).  Eleven athletes from seven countries including former world record holder Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) and, in his marathon debut, 2007 World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), make up the international field.

Japanese men must run 2:07:59 or better to qualify for the World Championships team.  Speaking at the press conference announcing the field, Federation executive Toshio Kiuchi commented, "It would be great to see a Japanese athlete break the finish tape," expressing the hope that Fukuoka will see its first Japanese winner in eight years.

2012 Fukuoka International Marathon Elite Field
Fukuoka, 12/2/12

Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) - 2:03:59
Dmytro Baranovskyy (Ukraine) - 2:07:15
Isaac Macharia (Kenya) - 2:07:16
Henryk Szost (Poland) - 2:07:39
Arata Fujiwara (Miki House) - 2:07:48
Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) - 2:08:37
James Mwangi (Kenya/Team NTN) - 2:08:38
Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota) - 2:09:03
Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Team Hitachi Logistics) - 2:09:10
Hiroyuki Horibata (Team Asahi Kasei) - 2:09:25
Harun Njoroge (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) - 2:09:38
Frank de Almeida (Brazil) - 2:12:03
Cuthbert Nyasango (Zimbabwe) - 2:12:08
Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - debut - 58:56 half marathon
Mohamed Trafeh (U.S.A.) - 1:00:39 half marathon

General Division - others expected from cancelled ING New York City Marathon
Andrew Lemoncello (GBR) - 2:13:40
Yusei Nakao (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:14:43
Simon Bairu (Canada) - 2:19:52

Pacers
Reid Coolsaet (Canada)

Comments

Most-Read This Week

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .

Japan's First Goldless Day - Asian Athletics Championships Day Four Highlights

Day 4 of the Bangkok Asian Athletics Championships was the first without a single gold medal going to Japan, but there were still enough silvers and bronzes to go around. Robyn Lauren Brown of the Philippines outclassed the rest of the women's 400 mH final field, taking gold in 57.50. Eri Utsunomiya and Ami Yamamoto made it a Japanese 2-3, Utsunomiya running 57.73 for silver and Yamamoto 57.80 for bronze. Yusaku Kodama also scored silver in the men's 400 mH, running 48.96 behind Qatari winner Bassem Hemeida 's 48.64. Yuki Yamasaki won bronze in the heptathlon with 5696 points, Uzbekistan's Ekaterina Voronina taking gold in 6098 and Swapna Barman silver in 5840. Teammate Karin Odama was 4th in 5487. Another bronze came in the mixed 4x400 m relay, with Japan running 3:15.71 behind India's 3:14.70 and Sri Lanka's 3:15.41. Naoto Hasegawa and Ryoichi Akamatsu both cleared 2.23 m in the men's high jump, Hasegawa finishing 4th overall and Akamatsu 5th. ...

'Kobe 2024: Monday Sees Shocking Wins on the Track and the Field'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-monday-sees-shocking-wins-track-and-field Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships  are here .